Gunfire kills 3 at NE Houston club

A shooter opened fire on a crowd of dozens of people outside a northeast Houston club early Sunday, killing three men and injuring three women.

Witnesses said that one of the men who died was an innocent bystander, shot while trying to help stop the bar fight that spilled out into the parking lot of the I.C.U. club at 9541 Mesa around 2 a.m. Another was celebrating his birthday at the club.

The shooter, known to be a regular at the club, was still at large Sunday night.

Bar owner Tom Wyatt, who was at his club near closing Sunday, said an argument escalated between several patrons inside. A black man, who appeared about 40 years old, went to his vehicle and came back around the corner with a gun, running after one of the men involved in the fight, Wyatt said.

He opened fire on the roughly 20 patrons standing outside the club and then ran from the scene.

When HPD officers arrived on the scene, they found Kibble and Steward dead. Castillo was taken to Ben Taub Hospital, where he later died.

Wyatt, who records show has owned the club since 2003, recalled another shooting at his club several years ago. In January 2008, a gang-related shooting happened at the same address, then called the Blue Ocean club. The Houston Chronicle reported at the time that Nakiza Antoine Flowers, 20, died after a confrontation between rival gangs inside the nightclub.

Houston Police Department officers are asking for anyone with information about Sunday’s shooting to call HPD Homicide at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-322-TIPS.